by OPI
INSTITUTE personnel in charge of drafting letters and official issuances were given a treat during one of their regular quarterly meetings when experts in the fields of writing and photojournalism were brought in to give lectures and workshops.
Poet, fictionist, and retired MSU-IIT Professor Dr. Christine Godinez Ortega gave a lecture on writing feature articles for the Institute website and the Institute journal, Gazette.
The multi-awarded lensman and journalist Mr. Robert “Bobby” Timonera then followed with a lecture on photojournalism.
The lectures that were then followed by workshops occurred at the Institute Boardroom during the ICG’s October 2 meeting that was jointly hosted by the Office of Public Information (OPI) and the Office of the Chancellor (OC).
Ortega, a former faculty member of the Institute’s English Department, is a recipient of the prestigious Gawad Paz Marquez Benitez for Outstanding Literature Teacher given by the Unyon ng Manunulat ng Pilipinas or UMPIL. She is also the long-time Director of the Iligan National Writers Workshop.
Timonera is currently the editor of MindaNews, a news agency of the Mindanao Institute of Journalism and contract photographer and writer for Fastenopfer, a Swiss Catholic Lenten Fund. He was also named Correspondent of the Year by the Philippine Daily Inquirer in 1999.
Ortega’s workshop gave the participants the chance to write feature leads which were then critiqued by the resource speaker. A selection of pictures taken by the participants was shown and evaluated by Timonera during his workshop time.
As the photojournalism and feature writing lectures and workshops were designed to provide participants with the basics and tips essential to their work, the organizers of the event opened them to students.
Staff members of the college student paper, SILAHIS, and staff members of the two school papers of the Integrated Developmental School (IDS), Ang Agong and The Agong, attended Ortega and Timonera’s lectures.
The OPI’s staff photographers and its layout artist also joined the activity.